


A Little Night Music

by smockrock



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Brief Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts, Disabled Reader, Illness, Slice of Life, This honestly isn't all that angsty, descriptions of mental and physical illness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-08-15 21:02:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 19,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8072641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smockrock/pseuds/smockrock
Summary: What with the glories of the multiverse, so many stories have been told about the numerous fallen, those who have fought their way through hell and high water to free monsterkind. Those who ran, who danced, who cheered, who traversed the underground and lived to tell the tale. Not everyone who falls has the luck to have a fully functional body, however. What would you do if you if the spirit is willing, but the flesh simply can't?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is both a way for me to ease back into writing, and a different perspective on the typical Undertale story - from the perspective of a disabled person. This will not follow the usual plot, but this isn't going to be dark, either. I'm pulling from some of my own experiences here, so stick around if you're curious about how a person with a lot of limitations would handle things.

You know, you'd think flowers would make for a soft landing, but nah.

To be fair, I hadn't tossed myself down here with the intent to survive, so maybe a rough landing was to be expected. I was pretty sure I'd broken or at least sprained my arm, it hurt like hell. At least my glasses were intact.

It was dark in that little cavern. A bit of sunlight shone down from above, but it was far away and without warmth. Echoes of a stream somewhere sounded through the cavern, but other than that, it was quiet.

I was fucked.

Grimacing, I sat up, taking stock of things. My clothes were torn, but servicable. I had no supplies with me - no meds, no food, no anything. A cracked screen greeted me when I looked for my phone, so that was out. Who knew if I'd get service down here, anyway.

There was the busted arm, and one of my legs was scratched to shit. Thankfully, my cane had landed down here with me, and with a bit of scooting I managed to snag it and hobble up to stand. Might as well see what I've landed in, since...well, since I'd most likely die down here.

"Howdy!" A cheerful voice sounded, seemingly out of nowhere. It took a moment, but I spotted a yellow flower with a...a face? Fuck it, sure, whatever.

"You're new around here! Well, don't worry, your pal Flowey will help you out." It winked, looking and sounding something like an excited child. It was offputting as all hell, but then again, I had found myself in front of a talking flower. I was probably hallucinating anyway.

"Boy, uh..." the flower faltered a bit. "Your soul is...anyway!" There was a tug in the center of my chest, and the world was drained of color, save for a goofy looking little heart floating between me and the hellflower. "There we go! Man, that just didn't want to come out."

It was a pale purple color - not quite lilac, but not quite lavender. "This is my soul?" I asked, incredulous. Those weren't real, right?

"Yep! You're low on LV, though." Again, it winked, and the unease I felt just kept piling up. "That's LOVE, of course." It rambled on about friendliness pellets or some shit, but I found myself distracted by my leg. It hurt like a motherfucker, and I had to kneel to keep myself from toppling over.

"Listen, buddy," I started, "That's real neat and all, but I need to rest for a bit before you lecture me."

The flower was clearly annoyed, but it quickly re-arranged it face back into something resembling concern. "Golly, I'm sorry. Are you hurt?"

I waved the cane around a bit after plopping myself onto the ground. "In a couple different ways, yeah. Didn't exactly have a soft landing." A small laugh bubbled up. "I mean, I'm probably dying anyway, so what does it matter?"

Flowey chuckled, and it was nothing like the light childs voice from before. It sounded old, and emotionless, and tired. "I guess you're right," it said, before winking again. Without warning, I was surrounded by blinding white pellets. "Might as well get it out of the way then, huh?"

Oh. So this was how it was going to end. 


	2. Chapter 2

Well, this was it. I was dead. I was dead, and I was in the afterlife. The afterlife was surprisingly warm and smelled like cinnamon, but it was the afterlife. I was a goner.

"Dear?" An amused but concerned voice said, somewhere in the darkness. "You are not dead. You merely fainted."

Oh. So in the afterlife, I kept my habit of wondering aloud. That was cool. Being dead was a lot different than I thought. Or I were still hallucinating, that was an option. First a flower, now some really motherly voice.

"...thank you, my child, but I assure you that you are still quite alive." The voice still sounded pretty amused. "Perhaps try opening your eyes?"

With a groan, I slowly tried to open my eyes, still not really sure if it would work. I was greeted with a soft yellow glow, in what looked like...a bedroom? Above me a tall, goat-like being smiled down, trying to look re-assuring.

"This is fine." I said aloud, deadpan. This just made the goat...person look more concerned. "Stuck down here without my meds, bound to see some shit, right?"

"You take medication?" The goat creature asked. "Is there something I can help with?"

I laughed, but to be honest, it didn't really come out all that jovial. I was honestly bordering on being a little hysterical. "Nah, not unless your uh...your people deal with some pretty heavy shit." I made an attempt to glance around, but everything still hurt too much. "Wouldn't happen to uh, to have my cane around, would you?"

"Oh! I found it next to you." The goat dissapeared for a moment, and before long they waved the curved purple cane at me. "I know this must be a shock, but you are not hallucinating," they added, furrowing their brow. "I found you sprawled on the ground with a few injuries after chasing that wretched creature off."

"O-oh. Oh. Uh. Thanks. I think." Smooth. "Do uh, do you have a name?"

"Toriel," they offered. "I am the caretaker of the ruins. I keep an eye out for those who fall down here, and try to keep them safe."

"Ruins? So that's where I jumped down into?" Woops. Now Toriel looked even more concerned. "FELL! I mean fell into." Toriel didn't look quite like she bought it, but she let it go after I offered up my own name.

"Please feel free to rest here as long as you would like," Toriel offered, a soft look coming over her face. I was really getting mom vibes from her. "You are still somewhat injured."

"I uh. You sure you aren't a hungry bear or something?" I blurted out. "This is all really weird. I'm not super sure I'm not hallucinating."

"I am fairly certain," she said softly, patting me gently on the forehead. "Why don't you rest for a while longer. I will go prepare some food and clothing for you." She stood, and hoo boy she stood tall. Toriel was all grace, though, elegantly moving in a dark purple robe with some kind of symbol on the front. The door was gently closed behind her, and I was left alone.

I wanted to stay awake, snoop around, maybe figure out just a bit of what the fuck was going on and who they were. I really did. Instead I passed the hell out almost immediately, half-listening to the chime of a music box playing somewhere in the distance.

 

* * *

 It was raining, somewhere else.

It was a rough day. Everything ached, as it often did with the weather changes. Ebott wasn't exactly known for being a tropical destination so it was freezing cold to boot. The cold leeched away any comfort the thick clothes I had on brought, and everything was a little damp from the downpour.

It didn't matter much anymore though, anyway.

I wasn't scared. Honestly, I wasn't. Not really. I was relieved. It'd be over soon. The endless doctors appointments just melted into the background as I stared out the bus window. The scenery flew by behind a sheet of water. Just my luck it would rain cats and dogs the day I finally decided to...to...

* * *

 

 

The first thing that greeted me upon waking was a brain zap. Tricky little bastards - they always felt like a punch right to the brain. It sent me reeling, so much so that I toppled off the bed with a loud thunk.

"Child? Are you alright?" The door flew open and Toriel hurried in, trying to help me stand up. It didn't go so hot though - a wave of dizziness washed over me and sent me toppling right back over. I ended up splayed onto the small bed she'd placed me on, groaning a bit with pain. I was really beginning to regret not bringing anything with me.

Though, to be fair, I hadn't expected to end up like...this.

"Do uh...." I croaked out. "Do you have any food?" Tactful as always, I chastised myself.

"Oh! Why yes, yes I do. It was ready a while ago, but you were out cold." She helped me get into something of a more comfortable position, with my bad resting against the headboard. Toriel then looked me square in the eye, with that look moms get when they wanted no bullshit. "It is obvious you are not well. What can I do to help?"

"I uh." I was really eloquent lately. "I usually take these...these meds, they help sorta regulate things. But I don't have them with me." Toriel frowned, but stayed quiet, so I continued. "I have some...some uh. Some."

My words were catching, and that fucking stutter was rearing it's head. "S-some, um, illnesses that affect how my brain does things? And....well, my skin doesn't work right. So I'm in...in p-pain a lot."

"And these medications, they help keep those illnesses at bay?" She asked, softly. "They are not fatal, are they?" There was a distant look on her face that I quickly wanted to help rid her of.

"Oh no! No. To both. Well." Helpless, I gestured at the whole glorious package known as my busted body. "They help make it so I can move around b-better, but since I d-don't have them, m-my body is gonna freak out for. For. For a while."

"Oh, dear." Toriel looked pensive. Awesome! Not a day spent down here and I was already imposing on people, and a sweet goat...monster...person, no less. "We monsters do not have quite the same issues as you do, but I will do my best to find something to ease your pain."

Hold up. "Hold up." Smooth. "Monsters?"

That got a laugh out of her. "Well, it seems as if you will not be going anywhere for the time being," she said, getting settled into a chair next to the bed. "I suppose I should explain where you are a little better."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: There's a very brief mention of suicide in the latter half of this chapter, along with a depiction of a panic attack. It's nothing too graphic.

Later that night, I'd been fed and given comfy clothes, and had pretty much immediately passed out again. Toriel didn't make a mention of the food being full of healing magic, but it at least seemed to help me rest for a while. Side note, let me tell you, monster food is the best if you've got food issues.

Anyway. She made her way down to the basement and did her usual routine - a couple knocks, a few jokes exchanged. "Did Papyrus enjoy his bedtime story?" She asked, giggling.

"oh, definately. It really knocked 'im out." The voice from the other side drawled, and she giggled agian. "It was Peek-a-Boo with Fluffy Bunny tonight - one of his tired-and-true favorites."

"Oh that was awful," Toriel laughed. "I think your well of puns has run dry, my friend."

"heh, maybe." There was a pause. "so, uh, not to pry lady, but what did ya need me for? we usually only chat durin' my shift."

"Ah, well," Toriel began, the laughter dying out pretty quick. "Another human fell, and they are ill. They will never make it."

"oh. well, uh...sorry about that, lady."

"They will never make it if they stay here," she pressed. " We do not exactly have doctors in here, friend. I doubt they would survive an encounter with anyone, even a moldsmal."

"no offense lady, but why are you tellin' me this? if they come out here, they're gonna end up at Asgore's, and you know what happens to 'em then."

Toriel grimaced, while trying to figure out a good why to phrase the next part. "I would like to ask a favor. There must be a doctor out there, is there not? One you know and trust?"

"...lady. look, I like you an' all, but - "

"They have no LV, and they cannot even stand up on their own right now." A fierceness came over Toriel. "Has Asgore become such a coward that he would strike down an opponent who is unable defend themselves?"

"what would you do if I said yes?" That didn't help the tension in the air, but before too long, a raspy sigh came from the other side of the thick stone door. "look, I hate makin' promises. lemme talk to them before I agree to anything, okay? maybe tomorrow mornin'?"

"That sounds grand." Toriels voice and posture both softened, her relief palpable. "I do not wish to see another human harmed."

"you've known 'em for a day, lady. keep an eye out for yourself, okay?" the voice chuckled. "see ya tomorrow."

 

* * *

 

The next morning was rough. My hands didn't want to cooperate, and poor Toriel...she, well, she helped me get ready. It was embarassing. Toriel was a trooper, though, and tried to make it the least uncomfortable experience she could. By the end, I had the shakes and couldn't really speak two words, but I was clothed and fed and warm.

To my surprise, the first thing she did was help me down some stares into a basement. By help, I mean I hobbled pretty heavily on my cane and she provided support as well. When we reached the end of a long purple hallway and encountered a thick stone door, I was sweaty, shivering, and exhausted.

"geez kid, I can hear you shaking from here." A voice said, outta nowhere. I whipped my head up to Toriel, who patted my shoulder soothingly. "He is here to help," She whispered, soothingly.

"H-h-h-" I swallowed thickly. "Hi."

The voice, which I figured out was coming from the other side of the door, laughed. "sorry, you sould like a friend of mine," they offered. "i hear you're sick?"

"S. Sorta." Fortunately, Toriel helped you explain the rest, from your meds to your condition. You left out how you'd gotten here in the first place though - you'd already fucked that up with Toriel, you weren't gonna fuck that up with anyone else.

A low whistle came from behind the door. "oof, buddy, that's rough. we don't have medicine like that down here, that's for sure."

"A-ah shit. S-shit." I slumped down. This was a mistake. This whole thing was a mistake. I couldn't do this right. I couldn't even kill myself successfully. Now I was gonna die a slow ass death in the middle of god knows where around some very nice, but very strange people and I just didn't -

"buddy. you there? we're gonna still try to help ya, you get me?"

"I. I uh. I couldn't. I didn't - " I gasped. Shit, I was having a full blown panic attack in front of Toriel and whoever this dude was. Too much was happening. "I mean. I. You guys are so nice, but you're monsters? And that's still pretty new? W-why do you...why do even want to help me? You barely k-know me."

Toriel made a move to comfort me, but I weakly shrugged her off. "I need to be alone," I managed to get out. "Alone. Please. Now." I didn't wait for her, instead clambering my way back up the stairs as fast as I could...which in reality wasn't all that much faster than walking. Still, Toriel let me alone. I ended up barricading myself in the warm yellow room, gasping for air, hoping that maybe the world would stop spinning soon.

"I should go see to her." Toriel said quietly downstairs. "Do you understand now? They are more of a danger to themselves than others."

"kid didn't sound okay." The voice on the other side of the door shuffled around a bit. "can't really judge a person through a door..."

"But?" Toriel asked, or well, half-asked. The other half demanded an answer.

"...but, I'll go talk to my friend. might be a couple days before I get back." A few moments passed. "you don't think she meant anything by that "but you're monsters" thing, do ya?"

"Consdidering she did not even know we existed a few days ago, I believe she meant no harm." Toriel answered, honestly. And it was true. "I do not believe we can blame her for being overwhelmed, especially given her condtion."

"...i guess so. see ya later, lady." 


	4. Chapter 4

Toriel, to her credit, didn't pry. She did treat me like a glass figurine though, and I guess I couldn't blame her after that little incident. Over the next few days she helped me get through brain zaps, nausea, and some god-awful pain. I told her that this is what I normally dealt with, thinking that'd ease her mind a bit since I knew what to expect, but that didn't exactly go to plan. After that I was basically kept fed 24/7 with pies and food chock-full of some kind of tingling ingredient - Toriel had called it healing magic, and since it didn't fuck me up I figured it was alright.

Fun thing about monster food - shit doesn't come back up. That was handy. I still basically lived in the bathroom, in a really soft robe Toriel had lent me. I kept asking her to just go back to her normal routine, that I'd be fine on my own, but she pretty much ignored me. It didn't help that I kept regularly falling down...and running into things...to be honest, I kinda saw where she was coming from, but still.

The magic helped a little, but it didn't really take away much of the pain. It more kept stuff at bay so I could shuffle around, but that was about it. I could see Toriel getting all keyed up about it. Sometimes she'd leave the house for a moment to survey the ruins, but she was always very quick, and would with somewhat false cheer tell me about the other monsters she'd spoken to out there.

I didn't get better, but I got a little more stable. The brain zaps would stick around for a while for sure, which I wasn't really looking forward to. My cane basically became my third leg, more so than usual - I didn't go anywhere without it.

I didn't really go anywhere, period. I'd made a couple attempts to explore the ruins but it always ended in either a tumble next to some weird dead tree, or Toriel finding me and ushering me back inside. Cabin fever was setting in pretty bad. The surface didn't really hold anything for me, but I knew the feeling of being trapped inside the house pretty well. That felt the same above and below ground.

One day it was particularly bad - I was curled up in bed, trying to focus on anything other than the way my skin felt like it was aflame. If I'd been able-bodied I'd be embarrassed by how useless I was being. I was embarrassed anyway, to be fair. Poor Toriel hadn't asked for this. I hadn't meant for this to happen.

Then again, I didn't exactly know monsters existed until recently, but still.

Hopefully I'd be at least somewhat okay soon, so I could try and help out a bit around the house. The end goal was to explore the ruins - and maybe beyond - but right now that was a far off dream. Baby steps and all that.

"Are you awake?" I heard Toriel ask softly, gently stepping into the room. "My friend has returned this morning. We need to prepare you for a journey."

"A journey?" I asked, confused. "To where?"

"He has a friend farther into the underground that might be able to assist your health." At this, Toriel looked saddened. "As much as I would like to keep helping, it does not seem to be helping all that much."

Oof. Seeing me look a crestfallen, she quickly added, "I do not regret helping you, so please, do not think of it that way. This is simply so that we can make sure you are not ill for longer than necessary."

"It's - it's okay." I pulled myself up into something of a sitting position. "Are you coming with?"

Toriel was slow to answer, and she looked guilty. "I am needed here."

"That's okay, Toriel." I did my best to give her a grin. "Should I get ready, then?"

Getting ready meant dressing in one of Toriel's robes with a belt around it, and wearing that fuzzy robe over that. She piled on enough scarves to half-bury me, with some of them smelling a little musty. She must've had them stored for a while.

It's not that she hadn't told me about the children that had come through here - it was just that she never really elaborated. I never pried, either - who would be that heartless? Instead I did my best to comfort her and avoid the subject as best as I could.

I was given a bag packed with another robe, and an ancient brick of a phone. "My number is programmed in there," Toriel explained, adding a slice of pie wrapped in foil into the mix. "Please, call me when you can."

"Of course," I said quickly. She was acting like she'd never see me again...but I guess she had some practice with seeing people off. Before too long, we were in front of those stone doors in the basement. I could see my breath and shivered a little, holding my cane close.

"hey kiddo. you ready?" The voice was really there, then. This was really happening. "you doin' any better?"

"Sorta?" I answered honestly.

"better than nothin'. not to rush but we should prolly get goin'." The voice was apologetic, but still. This was....this was happening a little too fast. Toriel saw me tensing up and drew me into a hug, whisipering that it would be alright and I could call her anytime. Before I knew it, she'd managed to get me out the doors with a pat on the back, and as they shut with a loud clang behind me, I found myself face to face with the goddamned grim reaper.

If I'd been paying attention, I would have heard someone softly crying, but I'd never been the greatest at noticing the small details.

"ah. guess she was too busy to come say hi too, huh?" the spectre of death quipped, looking...sad? Wistful? How the hell did a skeleton have facial expressions? Death raised an eyebrow...browbone...eyebrow at me, and I realized I'd been staring.

"Uh. Yeah. Ruins. Patrol." I stammered. "Sorry. Hi? Skeleton. Is your name Grim?"

With that, Death Incarnate let out a surprised whoop of laughter, and I died a bit on the inside. 


	5. Chapter 5

Death, as it turned out, was named Sans, and he didn't really deal in the whole death business. Now, his brother...also didn't deal in the death business, but would lose his shit when he saw me. Sans said this with a bit of concern on his face, and I winced, remembering that he was there for that lovely little panic attack the other day.

"Thanks for the warning," I mumbled, leaning pretty heavy on my cane. "So, uh, how far until w-we reach y-your friend?"

"oh, a days walk or so, plus a boat ride. it'll - whoa, buddy, you okay there?" I'd stumbled and paled a bit - okay, a lot - at how far it was going to be. I was already winded and we hadn't even made it that far down the snowy path by the ruins.

"A d-day? N-no offense, but I uh, I don't, I don't think - "

"yeah, i can see that now," Sans helped me back up, but I was still wobbly. "your bones got all rattled just from me mentioning it."

"Y-yeah, it - wait." I did my best to turn around to him, but it was more comical than intimidating. "Was that a pun?"

"more like wordplay." Still, he was grinning. "anyway, I prolly should've guessed that from what you two told me. c'mon, I'll help ya get to my house."

"Whoa, uh, I like you and all, but um, I don't - I don't swing - " I was the smoothest motherfucker in the underground, I swear. I wish I could've said I'd be more on my game when I was feeling better, but...nah. After thinking about it for more than a split second, I realized he meant we could rest there, but it was already way the hell too late.

That earned another whoop of laughter. "gosh, you don't wanna take me to the bone zone?" This time I managed to glare a little harder at the short skeleton, who was almost wheezing with laughter. I don't know how he managed that without lungs, but it was there.

"you don't wanna bone down?"

"...no."

"you don't wanna...jump my bones?"

"S-sans."

"hold up, I got one more - you don't wanna get boned?"

"Pff - that, that barely counts," I was giggling, though, and he could tell.

"okay, okay, I'm done." Sans took in the way I was leaning pretty hard on my cane, still shaking somewhat. "you're lookin' a little rougher than i realized, buddy. c'mon, I know a shortcut, we'll be there in no time."

 

* * *

 

The shortcut ended up being two of the most terrifying seconds of my goddamned life. One moment, we were standing in the snow - well, I was slowly falling over, but still - and the next moment Sans had grabbed my hand and whisked me into darkness.

This wasn't your run of the mill darkness. No, this was _dark._

Alright. Stop laughing. I mean true dark - there wasn't anything in there, it was the complete absence of things. I had never seen or felt anything like it, and it was almost suffocating. I felt like the dark was a physical thing, closing in around me from all sides.

When we popped back into existence not a second later, my body let me know that it was not happy in the slightest. My skin hurt anyway, but it was worse, like I'd been thrown around like a child's doll. My breath came in gasps and I went down, colliding with the ugliest carpet I'd ever seen.

"jesus, kid, why didn't you tell me you were feelin' that bad?" I didn't have the time for a witty retort before finding myself floated over to a busted, but comfortable couch. Briefly, I wondered how the hell that was happening, but considering everything else going on I just went with it.

"Y-you tune it o-out after a w-w-w-while," I gasped out. "W-what the fuck was t-that?"

"hold on." Sans was staring at my arms, and I blearily realized I was bruised to shit. "goddamn, kid, you really wouldn't make it without us." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Whatever- " I sucked in a breath, and a moment passed where I just had to focus on riding the wave of pain. "Whatever that. That was. Feel tossed around." C'mon, brain, work with me here.

"you felt the void?" Sans asked, looking completely baffled.

This was a really complicated conversation to be having when my brain was trying to reroute all resources into pain management. "L-later. Losing words. Water?"

"shit, sorry. yeah. hang on, I'll be back." Sans scurried off to god knows where, and I was left on the couch, alone. I kept my eyes closed, trying the whole breathing technique thing. It worked a little - I wasn't panicky, but jesus christ on a pogo stick my entire being hurt. Inside, too - it didn't feel quite like a heartache, but close. It was pretty bizarre, but with the flurry of sensations going on it got kind of lost in the mix.

At least it was quiet.

As if on cue, there was a loud SLAM near where I lay, and the tallest damn person I'd ever seen, monster or human, waltzed into the room. "SANS! DOGGO SAID YOU WEREN'T AT YOUR STATION THIS MORNING!"

I don't like to admit this, but I straight up gawked. This guy was another skeleton, but it was like someone had taken a rolling pin and stretched Sans out. Everywhere he was short and round, this guy was tall and angular. It was a trip. It didn't help that he was dressed like a speedo-clad superhero.

Speedo turned around and noticed me, and with the same volume, he announced "OH HELLO STRANGER! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND YOU ARE?"

"Gonna p-pass out," I said in the friendliest tone I could manage, before doing just that. 


	6. Chapter 6

"I SEEM TO HAVE BROKEN THE STRANGER!"

Ugh.

"they're already pretty broken, paps."

Oh god, my head hurt.

"HOLD ON. SANS. IS THIS...A HUMAN?"

"yeah."

"SPLENDID! UNDYNE WILL BE ESTATIC! GOOD WORK, BROTHER!"

 _That_ got my eyes to fly open. Sans was doing his best to make it clear that - something? He was shaking his head and pointing at Papyrus. "Not good. At. Charades," I bit out.

"YOU'RE AWAKE! GREETINGS HUMAN! I SEE YOU FELL FOR ONE OF MY BROTHER'S TRAPS!" His goddamned cape was billowing in the wind. "FOR BEING QUITE THE LAZYBONES, HE SEEMED TO HAVE PUT IN HIS ALL TODAY!"

Sans looked like he was caught between laughing his ass off and falling to pieces. "no - no i uh, this isn't - "

"USUALLY HE BOONDOGGLES AROUND. SOMETIMES HE BOONS AND DOGGLES SEPERATELY IF HE NAPPED ALL NIGHT." Papyrus was quite the orator, and at this point he'd struck a dramatic pose. He was a theater kid when he was a teen, I bet. "BUT TODAY, ON THIS MOST GLORIOUS OF DAYS, MY LAZY BROTHER HAS LURED IN A HUMAN. I'M SO PROUD!"

It took a lot of effort not to laugh when Papyrus swiftly scooped Sans up and gave him a hell of a bear hug. "THOUGH I DO WONDER, WHY ARE THEY IN OUR HOUSE, AND NOT THE SHED? I HAD SET OUT THE DAILY RATIONS ALREADY!" With this, he'd scopped Sans under one arm, and gestured wildly to a bag of dog food chilling in the corner.

"Y-yeah, Sans," I rasped out, propping myself up on one hand. "Why?"

"listen, bro, they're uh, they're really sick. i'm takin' them to Alphys so they can get some help."

"OH." There was a pause. "SHOULD I TELL UNDYNE ABOUT THE HUMAN?"

"no! uh, no paps." Apparently, skeletons could sweat. "not until...not right now."

"I'd really r-rather not be taken prisoner," I mentioned dryly. I had to admit, it was fun watching the shorter skeleton almost cave in on himself while the taller skeleton looked more and more confused. "E-especially since this was s-supposed to be about helping me, not kidnapping me."

"IF YOU ARE SICK, WHY NOT TRY MONSTER FOOD?" Oh, this taller dude was a sweetheart, I could already tell. "I CAN MAKE YOU SOME OF THE FINEST SPAGHETTI! THAT'LL GET YOU HEALED UP IN NO TIME!"

"not exactly gonna work, paps." Sans hung limply. "it's gonna take more than that."

"OH...WELL, I HAVE OATMEAL!" Papyrus turned heel and ran into what I guessed was the kitchen, returning with a somewhat singed box of oatmeal - not just any oatmeal, either, but the kind with dino eggs that "hatched." I couldn't be mad at this dude, I just couldn't.

"Listen, uh, Papyrus? I uh, I've got some...sicknesses that only a doctor can help." Oh no. Oh god no, he was tearing up. He was tearing up orange. "But! That's why we're h-heading to, uh, Al...pine? Alphyne? Alfonsos?"

"...alfonsos. i gotta tell fishface that one. but nah, it's alphys." Sans craned his head up as much as he could towards the taller brother, who was busy trying to regain his composure. "y'mind putting me down, bro?"

THUD. Sans was dropped pretty uncerimoniously onto the floor while Papyrus looked torn. "UNDYNE IS GOING TO FIND OUT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, BROTHER."

"we're gonna get al to tell her," Sans said, still laying in a heap on the floor. "we've got a plan, don't worry."

"WELL. IN THAT CASE!" Papyrus brightened up considerably. "WE CAN HAVE A SLEEPOVER, THEN!"

"I'm pretty tired," I admitted. "Though I hope a certain s-shortstop will explain what the fuck is g-going on here soon." Without warning I found myself staring at a large glass jar, filled with crumpled bills and bits of change.

"SWEAR JAR." Papyrus said, rattling it around for emphasis.

\---

In the end, it was decided that Papyrus would help haul my ass to Hotland, and we'd ask Alphys to help me figure out my mobility problem. I assured them that I could walk, honestly I could, but sure as hell not for a full day, or even an hour.

"i bet there's somethin' in the dump we can use," Sans mused, poking around a plate of halfway decent pasta. "lotsa human stuff falls down through there. s'how we got a bunch of our tech."

"Ah meaf," I was speaking around a mouth of tomato and parmesan, which earned a Look from papyrus and a snort from Sans. Sheepishly, I swallowed and kept going. "I mean, once we get the med thing figured out, I'll be okay with just my cane. Until then, though - "

"listen, ah, bud." Oh, that sounded good. Sans looked apologetic, while Papyrus merely looked over curiously at my cane. "you might want to consider that we may not figure something out."

"...oh." I'd gotten swept up in things, but he was right. They didn't even know what half the stuff I had was, let alone what medication would work. If monster magic didn't do the trick, how would a lone scientist figure something out? It felt like a punch in the gut.

"DO NOT WORRY! I BELIEVE YOU WILL FIND SOMETHING!" Papyrus cheerfully clapped a shoulder on my shoulder. "THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE!"

"Ha...yeah...anyway, uh, so what do you guys do for uh, for entertainment?" I'm sure they both cottoned on pretty quick to me desperately trying to change the subject, but they let me do it anyway. Judging by the way Papyrus lit up like a Christmas tree, he didn't mind in the slightest.

"OH! I CAN SHOW YOU THE VAST LIBRARY OF METTATONS FILMS!"

"oh no. now you've done it." Sans mumbled, taking a bite - somehow - of his pasta.

"WE HAVE TO START OF COURSE WITH METTATON: THE LEGACY, THE FIRST IN THE CHRONOLOGY OF METTATON (THE OFFICIAL METTATON MOVIE UNIVERSE TIMELINE), AND THEN WE CAN WATCH TAMING OF THE METTATON, AND THEN - "

"Sorry to interrupt, but um, who is Mettatoe?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had way the hell too much fun coming up with movie names, so here's the whole lot of 'em: 
> 
> METTATON: THE LEGACY  
> TAMING OF THE METTATON  
> FALL OF METTATON/RISE OF METTATON/REDEMPTION OF METTATON (AN MTT BRAND TRILOGY)  
> MTT BONANZA 101 (ACTUALLY JUST A RUSH JOB CLIP REEL OF METTATON'S SHOW)  
> METTATON BEACH BONANZA - FILMED AT SCENIC THE DUMP  
> METTATON: AWAKENING  
> METTATONS QUEST  
> METTATONS QUEST TWO: ROBOT BOOGALOO  
> METTATON RIDES AGAIN


	7. Chapter 7

Mettaton ended up being the closest thing the Underground had to a movie star. Up above he'd be the star of B-movies, but down here he was the closest to glitz and glamour they had. I suppose there was asomething to admire there - he was making the best of a bad situation, I guess.

After the Mettaton Trilogy I bowed out and mentioned that I needed to sleep. Papyrus was sad, but understanding, and Sans lent me some baggy PJ's. I was set up on the lumpy couch and left alone, with just the snow falling softly outside to distract me.

The brothers were...well, they were just as nice as Toriel. Papyrus had eagerly shared his favorite movie moments, understood when I had to look away from the quick edits, and was almost apopletic when I cheered with him during pivotal moments. It was really hard not to be cheerful around that guy.

He'd also fretted a little when I told him about being ill, but he hadn't made a big deal out of it. And that was rare, honestly. When you tell people you have a chronic illness, they tend to fall into two categories - disgusted (no matter how politely they try to hide it), or overly curious. Papyrus asked maybe two questions, understood that I needed assistance, and didn't pry any further.

Sans was nice, too. A little too punny for his own good, but the guy obviously cared a lot about his brother. He'd made some kind of offhand comment about being cool with his brother, and when I said his brother was the cool one, he actually beamed. Then he tried to prank me with a whoopie cushion, so you know, take the good with the bad.

He was pretty chill about it, too. He was obviously concerned - but he got the hint rather quickly that I didn't feel comfortable being hovered over and mostly left me alone. Coversations were light and cheerful, and since the dinner incident we'd only chatted about what science tidbits I knew and what kind of stuff we were both into.

It felt like...well. It felt like I had two close friends after only knowing them for something like a day. After what I'd originally come here for, I never could have dreamed that something like this would happen. That I'd make friends, or have people who genuinely cared about my wellbeing. It was weird, but wonderful.

_Don't you think you're getting ahead of yourself?_

"Hey anxiety," I muttered, cacooned in a blanket burrito. "Fuck off."

_We've only known them for a day. Isn't it sad that Toriel got tired of you only after a couple days? And what about the people we knew on the surface?_

"You mean the people who ghosted?" I retorted, the air ringing with sarcasm. "Besides, I left the only other people left a voicemail, and they hadn't talked to me in months anyway."

_Not like we put a whole lot of effort into talking to them, either._

"Right, because people just love to hang out with someone who can't really go anywhere, or do anything, or buy anything, but boy howdy they can talk your ear off about books and old tv shows."

_Well, it doesn't matter. They'll get tired of us down here, too. Everyone does, eventually._

  
"I'm sure I can take care of that, if it comes to it. At least let me enjoy things for a while before I try to off myself again."

_Do you think it was fate? This is just an interlude before the inevitable - we aren't that naive._

"I don't believe in fate."

"i do believe you're talkin' to yourself, though, buddy." I froze, and out of the corner of my eye I saw two dim lights staring at me from upstairs. Shit, shit, shit, I'd woken Sans up. I managed a cough and a mumbled "sorry," but that didn't seem to help much.

Quick as a flash, he was beside me on the couch. I stayed cacooned in the corner and just sorta watched him...and he watched me. "This is uh, this is really awkward." I ventured after a really uncomfortable amount of time, "Sorry for. For. For uh, waking you up."

"s'fine. don't sleep much anyway." Sans shrugged, but kept his gaze on me, seemingly searching for something. "you were kinda loud, though."

"Shit, sorry. I have this bad habit of thinking out loud s-sometimes." God, it was good it was dark, because I was red as a tomato. Launch me into the fucking sun, I was so, so embarassed.

"often do it in two different voices?" Sans asked lightly.

"Yeah." That apparently wasn't the answer Sans was expecting, because his eye lights got brighter and he seemed to jump a little. "It uh, it comes from living alone. I talk to my anxiety l-like it's another person. Helps."

"...oh." Yep, he was surprised, but it seemed to get him to calm down. "that bad, huh?"

"I mean...yeah?" Though I doubt he could see it, I waved a hand dismissively. "I've b-been dealing with it so long it's just sorta my normal, I guess. Helps me work it out, bottling that shit up ain't healthy."

"bud, don't take this the wrong way, but it doesn't sound like the surface was all that great a place for you."

"It wasn't." I said simply. "Anyway, now that you're up, wanna f-fill me in?"

\---

Sans and I stayed up until the false dawn appeared outside. I learned a bit more about Asgore, about Undyne, about how they needed just one more soul to break the barrier. Children had passed through here before and Asgore had...well, Toriel had told me he'd killed them, but I had no idea he had the souls ready to go to free his people.

Undyne was a great person, he told me, but fiercely loyal to the king. He was convinced that once she knew how sick I was, she wouldn't kill me, but from the sounds of it she was hella dedicated to her cause. It wouldn't be easy to convince her either way, but maybe it'd be okay.

Apparently I didn't have to worry about most monsters seeing me - it'd been a long time since the last human came through here, and most of them didn't know or remember what humans looked like anyway. I felt a weird mixture of guilt and relief at that, honestly.

Eventually we both passed out on the couch, only to be woken up by a very enthusiastic and slightly irritated Papyrus. Dude could probably bench press a car, because he managed to carry us, one under each arm, to the dining room and plopped fresh oatmeal in front of us both.

"EAT UP!" He demanded, eyes and smile wide. "WE SHOULD GET AN EARLY START!"

"you always want an early start, paps," Sans groaned. He looked like he was about to faceplant into his bowl, and I wasn't faring all that much better. Come to think of it, it'd been a bit since I'd had caffiene. Maybe that was part of the problem.

"...coff...coffee?" I mumbled.

"OH NO, YOU LIKE THAT AWFUL BEAN WATER TOO?" Papyrus said, aghast. Sans was actually face down in his bowl at this point, and I was leaning pretty far to the right. Papyrus took a look at us and apparently decided mercy was in order, because before long two steaming mugs of coffee were set in front of us.

Sweet, blessed bean water.

Later that morning, I was clad in a sweatshirt that said COOL DUDE AND GUY and a pair of baggy basketball shorts, courtesy of the brothers. My pack was filled with oatmeal packets and a box of spaghetti noodles, because I didn't have the heart to tell Papyrus no. Cane at the ready, I trudged out into town with the two.

"HUMAN!" Someone shrieked from a ways off. Papyrus promptly picked us both up and started sprinting without a word. 

Oh, good.


	8. Chapter 8

The wind was howling.

This was mostly because Papyrus was hurtling through town towards what I assumed was the "boat ride" mentioned before. Meanwhile, a tall, muscular, blue...blur, was chasing after us. How could I tell the blur was muscular?

Well, it was raining giant blue spears around us. You don't throw that far or that much without being a little jacked, y'know?

"I SAW YOU ON AL- ON THE ROYAL SCIENTISTS' MONITORS, HUMAN! YOU MAY HAVE BRAINWASHED PAPYRUS BUT YOU CAN NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" They screamed, prodding Papyrus to pick up the pace just a bit more.

"uh, say hi to undyne," Sans gestured at the blur following us. "aka fishface, aka captain of the royal guard - "

"AKA GONNA KICK YOUR PUNY ASS, HUMAN!" Undyne yelled, and I could make out her scaly ass drawing a finger across her throat while glaring at me. This was fine.

"WE ARE ALMOST AT THE RIVERPERSON!" Papyrus yelled down at us, swerving around a corner and nearly sending all of us flying. "HOLD ON TIGHT, BROTHER AND SICKLY HU - FRIEND!"

"SHIT!" My cane went flying, almost careening into Undyne. She caught it easily and glared down at it, before tucking it under her arm and picking up the pace again. "Pap - papyrus, we've gotta - "

"i'll get it later, kid, not the right time" sans offered, before Papyrus lept onto what looked like a floating plank of wood. Ah, there was the stream I'd heard. It looked lovely, from my view in the armpit of a gangly skeleton.

"Tra la la, oh my," Someone close said. "Where to today?"

"HOTLAND!" A blue spear whizzed by, fizzling as it hit the water. "QUICK, PLEASE!"

"Tra la la, let us fly then." Sans and I were dumped rather unceremoniously onto the plank, which ended up being a small but servicable boat. It began speeding across the water, and if I didn't know better, I'd say it had legs.

"NGAH! I _WILL_ HUNT YOU DOWN!" I groaned and rolled over to see Undyne on the shore, furiously waving my cane to and fro. There was a glint in her uncovered eye that told me yes, she'd hunt me to the ends of the Earth. Or, well, the Underground. Either way.

\---

We landed in a place that truly felt like the armpit of hell, mixed with a swamp. Papyrus assured me that was just because we were close-ish to Waterfall and you sorta get used to it after a while. Since I was cane-less and pretty wobbly from the adventure, Papyrus effortlessly lifted me into a piggy-back ride.

Now, listen. I'm an adult. I hadn't had a piggyback ride in something like twenty years. I squealed and kicked my legs and begged for him to just, you know, carry me or just let me stumble for a bit, but apparently Papyrus could be stubborn when he wanted to be. Don't even get me started on how weird it was that it felt like he had honest-to-god shoulders.

"THIS IS THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO TRANSPORT YOU!" He argued, and Sans didn't help by laughing his ass off as he followed us onto shore and up one hell of a staircase into, no shit, the inside of a volcano.

Now, it makes sense, considering that Ebbott is a bigass mountain. It could be a dormant volcano. In person, though, the heat was like a physical force that could knock you down if you weren't careful. "lots of the cold-blooded monsters live here," Sans explained as everyone trudged up the steps. Well, more like Sans trudged, I was holding onto Papyrus' head for dear life, and Papyrus was climbing like it was a walk in the park. "same reason why a lotta the furrier people live in Snowdin."

We came to a weird fork in the road - it was more like an intersection, honestly. There was a tall metal structure ahead of us, but two equally large guards stood in front of it, so I figured it wasn't worth asking about. Instead, we swerved right to find an even bigger, stark white cube of a building that simply said "LAB" on the front.

"don't." Sans warned, before I could even begin to run my mouth about their naming choices.

Papyrus ignored us both and just knocked on the door. After a few moments of silence and awkward shuffling, it slid open and revealed a short yellow lizard monster with coke-bottle glasses, a stained lab coat, and a readily apparent nervous disposition. She shook a little as she peered out, then up, finding me sheepishly waving from Papyrus' shoulders.

"Oh! Uh, hi!" She waved a little. "Um, I - I'm Alphys, nice to m-meet you!" 


	9. Chapter 9

The next couple hours were a blur. I was deposited in a nice, if cluttered room covered with anime posters. I shit you not, it was a decent mix of the stuff I'd grown up with and stuff that only the nichest of nerds would have ever seen. A lot of it was older, too.

Papyrus left to go "SMOOTH THINGS OVER WITH UNDYNE (WINK)" and Alphys was with Sans on the first floor, trying to figure out how to get a scanner to work on you or something. Who knew Sans was into that kind of stuff? Come to think of it, that was probably how he knew someone who could help me.

I ended up nodding off at some point on the softest, most perfectly rectangular bed and woke up to nervous stuttering. "U-uh, we uh, we got it working!" Alphys announced, pushing up her glasses and looking a little excited. "So uh, we should p-probably get s-started."

"Already? Um, okay." She helped me down a weird escalator type thing down to the next floor, and to what looked like an elevator.

"So. Uh. In the best of c-circumstances you wouldn't c-come down here until m-much later? Or not at all..." Alphys tittered, pressing a button and jumping as the car began to move. "B-but this is where you'll b-be safest, at l-least until y-you're feeling better."

"Oh man, sorry for intruding," I nearly fell over myself trying to apologize, but Alphys helped keep me steady. "I k-know it's gotta be weird for ya'll, n-not in the least because of -"

"Oh, don't w-worry about it!" Alphys asserted, pushing her glasses back up again and twiddling her thumbs nervously. "I uh, I don't t-think I have it in me to j-just sit by w-while someone needs help..."

"R-really? Even though I'm, y'know," I waved a hand around the general vicinity of my dysfunctional body. "...this?"

"W-what do you mean?" This was a long elevator ride, a voice dimly noted in the back of my currently anxiety-ridden brain. "You're s-sick right now, but -"

"hey guys, not to interrupt the convo, but we need to get Ol' Busted over here scanned and ready." I flinched a bit and turned to find Sans standing in front of the open elevator doors - behind him was a much darker lab. Was this the basement level or something?

"Hey, uh, Sans, I know y-you don't mean anything by i-it, but - "

The lights in his eyes shrank a little, but the grin stayed the same. "c'mon, we can talk after gettin' your vitals."

Ah, good. I was going to have to have a really awkward chat with the two monsters helping me the most. Just peachy.

\---

"no offense, bud, but your HP is low. real low."

My heart - well, more accurately, my goofy cartoon heart of a soul was floating in front of me, shining a pale purple glow onto the surrounding area. I was sitting behind this giant screen thing, and apparently on the other side they could see my stats.

Alphys had explained stats were more their way of categorizing different functions of the body, but I was still pretty confused. It all sounded like a video game, to be honest, or maybe a tabletop. If it was, I'd really bombed my rolls. Either way, it'd help Alphys figure out how to attack the whole medication situation.

"It's odd," Alphys muttered, squinting at the screen. "Your HP is at 5, but your HP bar has a longish smudge at the end." Her stutter was almost entirely gone, swept away by her intense focus. I could admire that.

"W-well," I laughed, a little nervously. "I wasn't always disabled."

Cue blank stares from the two monsters. "I got real sick when I came of age - for humans anyway - and it just sorta got worse from there."

"Fascinating." Alphys sounded genuine, and encouraged me to continue.

"Yeah, I uh, I got these real bad headaches? And then everything else s-started to hurt really bad, and n-nothing helped. And it just sorta...never s-stopped hurting, really." I shrugged. "Meds d-definately help, but I'm always gonna be a little sick, no matter what."

"so your HP was probably higher before, and you just...lost it?" Sans was squinting too. "not a real common occurrence, bud, but we also don't get many humans down here."

"Well, HP means health points right? So I mean, it makes sense." Oh man, they both looked up at me, really looked at me, with worried eyes. "Okay, that can't be good."

"HP is an acronym," Alphys said softly. "It stands for HoPe." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *finger guns* I said it wasn't gonna be all that angsty, not that there wasn't any angst in there at all. I fully intend to keep this fic more lighthearted, though. 
> 
> Also! A quick confession - how the protag got sick is how I got sick. Over the course of a long weekend my health tanked - not that it had ever been super amazing, but everything sorta went sideways at once after what was probably a longer buildup than I realize. When you go through that kind of thing and lose your health for good, you go through a grieving process. It's always messy, and it's always hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
> 
> You know, kinda like how things go when time just resets over and over and you become a nihilistic smartass as a coping mechanism.


	10. Chapter 10

"I - I mean, I guess - I guess that makes sense?" I concentrated real hard on trying to play this all off. Stars above, this whole adventure had been one terribly awkward moment after another. "I didn't exactly, uh...come down here to, y'know, have an adventure."

"you tried to kill yourself. " Jesus, Sans, way to be blunt. He looked absolutely exhausted in that moment, and Alphys looked...sympathetic? I'd have to ask her about that later. I expected them to berate me, make a snarky comment, or something - but instead they went back to surveying my stats.

"She has a negative defense. How does she have n-negative 1 defense?"

"You c-could ask her," I supplied helpfully. I was summarily ignored. Super.

The rest of the day went similarly. My stats were recorded - everything was low across the board, good and bad. My illnesses were discussed with only minor input from me - Alphys was dead set on finding something that would fix me for good, but I talked her into maybe just focusing on medicine right now. Once I got to know her and the situation a bit better, I'd break it gently to her.

What I have is incurable.

So all I can aim for is my normal, a new normal I had to learn when I got sick. I explained that "normal" for me would be the ability to at least walk around a bit - with the aid of a cane, have a clearer head, have less pain, and generally be more than a lump on the bed. She nodded and wrote it all down but I'm not sure either of them really got what I was saying.

Sans was...well, he was getting on my nerves a little. Alphys had a bit more tact in not referring to me as "broken" but Sans sure as hell didn't have the same qualms. I didn't really fault him for it, he didn't seem to know better - but each time I tried to bring up that, hey, it's really only cool if I call myself broken, Alphys would drag him away, or they'd notice something new.

The room we were in gave off a weird vibe, too. It was sparkling clean, but dim, and beneath the heavy smell of cleaning products you could smell a hint of dust. Or mold. Must? It reminded me of old, mildewy rooms during the rainy season. The exits were cordoned off too, but the room was absolutely filled with beds. It was a little offputting, but Alphys seemed okay so I just sorta rolled with it.

I could take down evil ghosts or whatever with my cane if they showed up, anyway. ...if I had my cane. Which I didn't. Go me.

"Hey, uh, w-we have a battle plan!" Alphys announced, sounding excited. I looked back their way to find the two of them hunched over a mess of notes, covered in chicken scratch. "B-based off your soul readings, we simply need to look over the frequency it gives off and then carry that over to the baseline of the - "

Aways she went. It was impressive, really, and her stutter evaporated. Sans cleared his throat after a minute or so and winked at me, which got Alphys to screech to a stop. "she means we got a look at your soul, so we can try an' custom make stuff for it."  
  
"Probably f-f-food first," Alphys stammered, embarrassed, "Then w-we go from there."

I shrugged. "Sure, whatever. What do I uh, do until then?"

"we need you to stay down here." Sans' voice was low, and a little angry, but I got the sense it wasn't directed at me.

"AND DON'T...don't uh, d-don't go past t-the barricades." Alphys insisted. I was a little curious and a lot thrown off at the intensity of her emotions as she said that, but I didn't really have a choice, did I?

"Um. I uh. Okay."

\---

So I stayed down in the basement lab, to hide from Undyne and any other monsters who happened to have an eye out for me. Undyne honestly sounded like the only one who really got who I was, but whatever, it was comfortable enough down here.

Sans teleported on home, mentioning he'd check back in a couple days and promising to say hey to Papyrus on my behalf. No word on my cane, though. Alphys got me set up the best she could, with a frankly impressive amount of pillows and blankets. We'd gotten the beds shoved together, and I had to admit it was incredibly comfy. At one point she'd dragged an old CRT TV and a vhs player, and left a few battered tapes for me to watch.

_"BATTLE ANGEL ALANNA"_  
_"SHIBEYASHA"_  
_"REVOLUTIONARY GIRL ULALA"_

These were all some staples from my childhood, but I hadn't seen VHS copies in years. I guess these came from the dump? Not for the first time, I felt pretty awful for what the monsters had to deal with. I mean, yeah it was just entertainment, but imagine getting all the "good stuff" as Sans had put it from the dump.

Nothing else much happened that day. Alphys bid me goodnight and tinkered with my phone a bit, adding in her number. I tried to call Toriel, but no dice. That...didn't feel great.

I nestled in the middle of the makeshift giant bed and closed my eyes. As I was drifting off and floating in that daze between wakefulness and slumber, someone pulled a blanket over me and patted my head gently. Their hand felt warm, soft, and light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Fair warning, I'm having issues with my hands not wanting to work, so apologies for any missed typos/weird fragments. Chapters won't be coming out quite as quick until my hand decides to cooperate when i wanna type, but they'll still come out.
> 
> Also! Ya'll need to listen to [this heavy metal/accordion (no really) cover of the True Lab theme. It gave me the jibblies, but it's so good.](https://youtu.be/MaPNBugdsd8)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning time, y'all: This chapter contains brief descriptions of suicidal thoughts.

_The weather was just - eugh. This wasn't a pleasure trip anyway, but it made getting up the trail a hassle and a half. It didn't help that I had to go out of my way to weave around park rangers - the mountain wasn't off limits, but it did have a shitload of angry wildlife, so they generally tried to keep people from going especially high up._

_By the time I got halfway up, my legs were KILLING me. The irony passed me by at the time. I was shaky and sweaty, but by god I was determined to make it through. This helped when I tripped over tree roots, snagged my jeans in a thorny bush, and nearly ran right into a burly ranger. Thankfully I hid right in the nick of time, but it was close._

_Still. I wasn't too far from my destination, but I didn't know if I could make it. My legs were screaming at me from all the walking and dodging I'd had to do, my head was pounding, and it was getting hard to see with the mixture of rain and pure fatigue._

_I had to keep going though. I had to._

_Eventually I managed to shamble towards the dropping point, and fell to a heap right before the dropoff. The dropping point was cordoned off, but that didnn't stop anyone in the past from jumpnig straight down. It was a deep, dark hole with seemingly no end that led right into the mountain, and once you went down there, nobody would ever find you. Not a single body had been recovered._

_I was worthless. I would not be missed. I was going to roll right off into the mountain, hoping against hope that it'd kill me. I waved weakly up into the sky, and bid a silent farewell to all I knew._

_Then I fell._

\---

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the heavy, heavy smell of lemons. Did Alphys bake a tart or something? Lemon stuff is my favorite, hands down, but this was a bit much. Maybe once I got better I could help her bake or something...

Hold up. I was still in bed, wrapped in a blanket nest, with my eyes slowly opening to half lidded. I could just barely make out something hunched over by one of the barricades. From what I could tell, it just stood there, maybe swaying a little bit.

I made a mad grab for my glasses and got them on right as I heard, "Do you think I'm pretty?" It echoed through the room in a caccophany of broken voices, sounding terribly, terribly wrong for lack of a better term.

My soul lurched out of my chest as the...thing oozed over the barricade pretty easily. It drew close, the smell of lemons overpowering. I couldn't move out of fear, or do anything but watch this thing move closer. It's head was just...teeth. It had one weirdly buff arm, and a melting mess of a body.

"Stay with me..."

The world drained of color as my soul just sorta hung out in front of me. I found myself upright and standing, facing this thing, while an odd discordant tune played in the background. It seemed to just watch me.

What the fuck. What the FUCK. What the fuck.

It was just sort of waiting for me, I think? So I just tried to, well, talk to it.

"H-hey, uh, s-sorry if I'm invading your space," I stammered, trying my best not to lose my shit. "I'll uh...go, somewhere. Somewhere else."

"Stay with me," The thing said, more insistantly this time. My soul jerked forward and for a brief moment, it looked like it was going to eat it. It chomped down, with shaking teeth. This was it. I was dead.

Except...not? Once I'd managed to look up I saw that I'd ended up in a gap between teeth. Good thing I did, too, because it looked ready to bite down again. With a gasp, I tried any way I could to fling my little heart to the only open space, and yet again managed to dodge the teeth.

My HP still went down, though.

It's weird, seeing your health laid out like that. It was like looking at a battle screen that you could reach out and almost touch. My HP was bright as day, and pretty damn small. That was good, right? Totally fine.

 _ **CHOMP.**_ While I wasn't paying attention, tall, melty, and weirdly buff bit down a third time. It hurt like I'd been poked with a kid's needle. I'd...expected worse, honestly. I was dazed, sure, but I'd been through worse. Even the thing I was fighting seemed a little confused, because it just...stopped.

"L-listen. Uh. I uh. I'm just here. Here for help and uh. I don't want any trouble." I tried to say in the calmest voice I could manage, but when you're shaky and kind of hurt it's a little difficult to be a smooth talker. Holding my hands up in front of me half in self defense, and half to show I wasn't holding a weapon, I added, "I d-didn't mean to. To intrude, I p- _promise._ "

Way off in the distance, I could hear a clattering, but it sounded like it was miles away. The thing seemed to perk up at it, though.

"L-look, I uh, listen, I hope I didn't uh, scare you." I said, still holding my arms up.

"Do you think I'm pretty?" It asked again.

"Uh. Yes? You're very pretty." What. "You also s-smell pretty good."

This was awkward.

"And, um." Shit. "You uh, you have a nice...voice?"

It perked up and let out a little hum, which nearly knocked me on my ass. I didn't expect a thing with teeth for a head to be able to speak in the first place, much less have any sort of musical abilities. With a small pop, the world burst back into color, and I was left looking at a content looking...thing. At least I think it was content?

"What's. What's uh. What's." I felt like I sounded like a broken record, but random battles kinda fuck you up, you know? "Do uh. Do you have a name?"

"I uh." With a start, I whipped around to find Alphys standing there, holding a bag of dog food twice her size and looking both sheepish and exhausted. "I c-call them Lemon Bread."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That battle went a lil' weird, right? *xfile noises*
> 
> Also! Thanks for sticking by and being super patient with this story, y'all.


	12. Chapter 12

Now that I could get a closer look at it, Alphys' room really was a wreck. The anime posters covered almost every spare inch of wallspace in her long rectangular loft, and half of them looked water damaged to hell and back. There were empty ramen packages everywhere, and I'm half convinced one of them ran away when I walked close to it. Soda cans cluttered up every flat surface, and what they didn't take up was filled in with manga and old anime tapes.

Also, it wasn't part of the mess, but there was a smiling machine dispensing pink goo against one wall that gave me the heebie-jeebies.

"Feels like home," I joked. She just blushed and moved some stuff out of the way so we could both sit down. After digging through a pile in the far left corner she returned with a couple cans of, and I quote, "MTT BRAND FASHION SODA: FOR WHEN YOU WANT YOUR THIRST FOR FAME QUEN."

The title ran out of space on the can. If you looked at the bottom of it, it simply said "CHED."

"Soooo, uh..." I began. "What was t-that?"

"They uh." Alphys was visibly scrambling to figure out how to explain it. "L-look, uh, you weren't supposed to, erm, m-meet them. Yet. So uh. Don't um..."

"Tell anyone?" I supplied. Alphys nodded, but she refused to look at me. "I don't have many people to tell anyway. I get the feeling Sans knows?"

"A-actually, uh, no. I mean. He knows about the lab, obviously, but. Um."

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed," I promised, really hoping I could actually keep that promise. It seemed to keep Alphys calm, anyway. "L-listen, you're helpin' me out, I can at least try to help you."

Alphys laughed, but it was mirthless. "I'm uh. I'm beyond help."

\---

A few hours, a lot of drinks, and one heartfelt plea to not tell Undyne later, Alphys had spilled the beans. Lemon Bread was an amalgamate of several different monsters, accidentally created during experiments Alphys was trying to run to bring monsters back from the brink, and on a larger scale break the barrier. There were certain steps she deliberately kept from me, but I got the impression I was the first and only person she'd had to talk to about all this in a long, long time.

Lemon Bread wasn't the only one. Alphys promised to "introduce" me to the rest, but I waved the offer off for now. One melting gestalt monster was enough for one night, thank you very much. Though, it did bring up a problem.

"You um. Are you going to do the s-same thing to me?" I asked.

"Oh, n-no!" Alphys waved her arms nervously. "B-besides, humans can p-probably handle DT a w-whole lot better t-than monsters, w-what with our genetic makeup - actually , did you know that monsters are the embodiment of our souls? You see, it - "

And away she went. It was sort of breathtaking, watching this shy little lizard confidently and without any stuttering gush about science. I didn't understand most of what she was talking about, but still, it was as sight to behold. She looked miles and away better than the dejected, exhausted Alphys I'd spoken to earlier in the night.

At some point I must have passed out, because I woke up achey as hell on the floor, with a headache that could take down a moose. I stared up at the ceiling in a daze, idly wondering how Alphys managed to reach up to the ceiling to paint it such a cool blue color.

With a scale pattern.

And teeth.

"Hey, _punk_." The ceiling greeted. "Told you I'd get you."


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: Most of this chapter describes a panic attack in somewhat full detail.

Sometimes, when you have a panic attack, you see the world in slow motion. You're collapsing on the inside in slow-mo, and you're stuck watching the world around you move oh so slowly. It's like something from an awful b-movie.

A few different things happened. I'm pretty sure I started hyperventaliting almost immediately. My chest felt tight, and my head was swimming. My fight or flight instinct was telling me to get the fuck outta there, but I was frozen.

Funny. I'd jumped down here to die, but right now, I was really okay with staying alive.

Undyne was above me, crouching low, but I could see her face twist into something undecipherable. She didn't look quite as frightening anymore, at least, but this train had already leapt off the rails and was careening toward Oh Shit town. Unbidden, my soul wrenched its way out of my chest.

It was shaking. There was a low orchid light in the area I could see - which wasn't much - and it was vibrating. It didn't look like it was going to break to pieces from what I could tell, but it didn't look like it was supposed to be jolting around like that. The light seemed to vascillate pretty wildly, too.

I was getting more and more trapped in my own head. _SHIT SHIT SHIT I'M GONNA DIE I CAN'T DIE NOW I FINALLY FOUND HELP THE PEOPLE DOWN HERE ARE SO NICE I'M GONNA DIE WHAT IF I CAN'T SAY GOODBYE I CAN'T I CAN'T I CAN'T_

"Human! Human, _c'mon_ , snap out of it!"

"U-undyne?! What a-are you - "

"Later, nerd! I kinda uh, _broke_ the human. What's wrong with them?"

"M-move."

I felt a cool hand on my forehead, jolting me somewhat out of my running inner monolouge. "I h-have these too," I heard Alphys whisper. "Can y-you breathe to t-three?"

I tried, I really did, but all I could do was tear up.

"C-c'mon, it's okay. J-just breathe w-with me, okay?" Alphys breathed in slowly, held her breath for just a moment, and then breathed out. I sputtered along, trying to match her - and eventually, I got to the point where I was breathing somewhat slowly. I was still sputtering a little and trying to catch my breath - and still _real_ fucked up, if I'm honest - but I wasn't hyperventaliting anymore.

Undyne, to her credit, looked guilty as hell. "I uh. Listen, you know why I gotta get you, right?"

The look Alphys shot her could have killed a man. Or monster. Either works, and it got Undyne to shut up. "C-can you g-go get some w-water?" Alphys asked, but her tone of voice made it sound more like a demand than a queston. Undyne looked a little suprised but ske-daddled out of there.

Alphys turned to me, that sheepish grin back on her face. "L-listen, Undyne i-isn't a b-bad person," she explained softly as my breathing kept getting slower. "She j-just, er, h-has a lot of p-passion?"

"I. I get. Get it." I bit out. "Just uh. Just. Surprised."

Undyne shuffled her way back in a little later with a glass of water and a charred to hell and back plate of something. "I figured monster food might help," she offered, handing the plate my way. It was almost completely charcoal, and smelled like burnt wood, but it had a nice sprinkling of parmesan on top.

I don't think either of them expected the choked laughter that burst out of me when I realized she'd made spaghetti. 


	14. Chapter 14

"hey, al? i brought paps over, we mighta found - _oh my god_."

"WHAT IS IT BROTHER? YOU SHOULDN'T JUST BARGE INTO - OH MY."

"right? quick, take a picture. this is priceless."

You know how when you eat like, a bunch of crackers and your mouth feels dry? No? Well, try to imagine it, because I woke up with the worst case of dry mouth the world has ever seen. I could still taste burnt noodles. At least I think noodles were involved?

"look at Undyne. oh my - snort - oh my god."

"WELL, IT LOOKS AS IF FRIENDSHIP WON!"

My head hurt too, but that was sorta par for the course. No brain zaps yet, which was good. I would kill for some coffee. Or caffiene. Any kind, really.

"bud, we can make you some killer coffee if you just ask."

Man, that voice was familiar. I was really tired, though. Maybe five more minutes?

"THE HUMAN DOES NOT WAKE UP WELL."

"not everyone is you, Paps."

"HUMAN! HUMAN, RISE AND SHINE, THE UNDERGROUND SAYS HELLO!"

"gRrgugh."

"eloquent as always."

"....s-sans? W-what....um, hi?"

"mornin' al. things goin' well?"

Blergh. It was time to at least crack my eyes open and see what was going on. It was blurry at first, but something blue floated my way - my glasses. Then I could see a short skeleton sporting the biggest shit-eating grin I've ever seen.

A couple things came to light in quick succession.

1\. Alphys, Undyne, and I had fallen asleep on Alphys' bed.

2\. Alphys, Undyne, and I were piled on top of each other.

3\. I was the middle spoon.

"HOO okay, uh, morning. Morning, guys. Um." I did my best to remain calm, and that failed spectacularly. Sans was almost crying with laughter at this point. Alphys was a pretty dark shade of red, and Undyne was still passed out cold from what I could tell. I tried to sit up but a muscular blue arm flopped over both of us and had us pinned.

"U-undyne!" Alphys squeaked. "W-wake up! W-we have v-v-visitors!"

"UNDYNE! WAKE UP, IT IS TIME TO GREET THE NEW DAY!" Papyrus called. "ALSO TODAY IS COOKING LESSON DAY. LOOKS LIKE WE DO NOT NEED TO MEET AT YOUR HOUSE AFTER ALL!"

"H-hey uh, Undyne? Can um. Can. Can you let us up?" I tried to push her arm off but it was like pushing a cliff - it didn't do any good.

"Ngggh, whuzzat?" I heard from behind me. "Alphys, when'd you - oh."

"Oh." I agreed.

"You're not Alphys."

"Nope." I confirmed.

"You're the human I tried to capture."

"Uh, yeah." I pushed at her arm again. "Y-you uh, you suceeded apparently."

"Sans and Papyrus are here." Her voice was getting slightly clearer, but not by much.

"YES WE ARE!" Papyrus chimed in.

"You ate the spaghetti though." Undyne said, thoughtfully. "And you didn't fight back. And your soul is pretty busted, right, nerd?."

"Yes, n-no, and uh, I g-guess? M-maybe?" I shook my head. "Listen, uh -"

"I'd feel kinda bad for taking down someone who can't defend themselves. Maybe when you're fixed up?"

"LISTEN." I startled even myself with the volume of my shout, and the others noticably scooted a little away from me. This had been building up for a while, though, that was for sure. "I. I kn-know you guys don't deal w-with stuff l-like this often. And. And I really appreciate t-the help. But. I d-don't like being c-called broken." I swallowed, my mouth dry. "It - that - it's. Uh."

Undyne's arm moved a little, though it still kept us pinned. "It. It's what I tell myself w-when things are hard." I said quietly. "But I - I'm not broken. Or fixable. I just - I just am."

"So...you're never getting better?" Undyne asked bluntly, though it was clear as day that she didn't mean it in a bad way. I just sighed and nodded.

"I can - Alphys is g-gonna help me get more functional. But I'm - I'm never going to be h-healthy again. Ever."

\---

After that...cheerful exchange, we shuffled as a group downstairs to regroup. Alphys, bless her sweet sweet heart, had energy drinks, two of which I immediately claimed. They could have been dirt flavored or whatever, I didn't care - it was caffeine, and that's what mattered.

"Uh, human? I can hear your heart racing from here." Undyne pointed out.

"S'nothin'." I dismissed. "Anyway, w-what are y'all doing here?"

"paps helped me scout around the dump," sans answered, with a mouth full of cinnamon bun. Or...bunny? It had ears. "think we mighta found somethin' that'll work."

"THAT DOES REMIND ME - UNDYNE!" Paps was making an attempt to me intimidating, but with a mouthful of cinnamon bun it didn't work out quite so well. "PLEASE GIVE OUR HUMAN FRIEND HER DEVICE BACK."

"Device?" She looked flabbergasted. "Y'mean that weapon? I threw it into the lava."

Threw it. Into. Lava.

Alright.

"I uh. I used that to g-get around." I muttered. "W-what did you guys find?"

With a flourish and a few crumbs flying, Papyrus gestured towards the far corner of the lab. There, looking beat up all to hell and rusted as shit, was a walker. It even had a little seat, though the seat had seen much, much better days.

"Listen, human. If you get better we're gonna fight, okay?" Undyne offered. "But right now...well, other people will fall down here." It was a weirdly comforting threat, honestly. I took comfort where I could get it, and weakly nodded.   
  
I then proceeded to cry, because c'mon. Who wouldn't?

\---

Later that night I was splayed out on a cot up in Alphys' room - I didn't really feel comfortable being down in the lab alone right now. Papyrus and Sans had gone home for the night with a promise to come back soon. Alphys was off somewhere watching anime with Undyne, hopefully making a move on her. It was incredibly obvious from their glances at each other to the blushes to the remarks they made that they had it bad for each other.

It was a nice touch of normality to the situation. It also made me feel that much more awkward about accidentally being in the middle of their spoon session.

Eventually I dozed off. It'd been a hell of a day, and honestly a hell of a week. I was fresh outta spoons, and probably would be for a good long while. I thought I'd be okay, though. I'd found good people.

Well. Monsters. Still.

My first dream was surreal like they usually are - I was riding atop an ostrich in the ruins, and we were hunting for gold. Considering I hadn't actually seen much of the ruins it was probably wildly inaccurate, though I kinda hoped Toriel kept a pit of snakes in there somewhere just because. Hell, considering the monsters I'd met so far, they'd probably be friendly.

The next one was...well, it was odd. I felt like I was moving in slow motion, and I was back on that patch of flowers. It was like I was moving through water, slowly up toward the ceiling. Almost as if I was breaking free.

Then I slammed into the ground, and it _hurt_.

The last one had me sitting on a dock somewhere in a dark, dark room. There were these odd blue flowers around me, glowing faintly and whispering among themselves. I could only catch snippets, and none of them made sense.

My legs were dangling in the cool water as I looked around trying to figure out what was up. The air was humid, but not oppressively - more like that feeling right after a cool drizzle aboveground. It was incredibly peaceful.

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes," I heard. Slowly, slowly, I managed to turn to find a small child sitting beside me, with a mop of brown hair and a smile a mile wide. "Making friends, are we?"

"U-uh -" I sputtered, but the child giggled and raised a finger to sush me.

"You're doing great!" They said cheerfully, kicking their feet. "You really ought to be dead, but you're not. Finally!"

"F-finally?"

"Yep!" They giggled again. "I can't wait to see how this one plays out. See you soon!"

"Wh - " Before I could get the word out, the world _tilted_. It was like someone had taken the room and just crumpled it into a ball, and I found myself on my back, shivering and feeling like I'd hiked up the mountain again. It was cold and damp in here - did Alphys' AC go bonkers or something?

"...bud? c'mon, can you hear me?" I heard. I managed to twist myself around on the weirdly slippery cot, only to find myself staring into a deep pool of cool, dark water. The air was whispering around me. I wasn't on the cot, that was for fucking sure.

I was on a dock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *finger guns* Extra long chapter to make up for the wait. Don't despair for the protag yet! This is still very much a slice-of-life story, just with a few wrenches thrown into the gears.


	15. Chapter 15

My muscles burned. When able-bodied people run a marathon or whatever special athletic hell they prefer, they get sore all over, right? And if it's really grueling, like the fucking Iron Man or something, they're so sore and achy that they have to take a while to recover.

Now imagine if you felt that way when you just walked out to, say, get the mail.

I was better than I was when I first got sick - I could endure it for longer. What I couldn't do was hike through the damned underground without feeling like my body was staging a revolt. My brain was chiming in too with the zaps - though, funnily enough, they were fainter than before.

"bud? c'mon, answer me." Sans floated into view somewhat, though he was covered with grey spots. I weakly tried to swat at a couple of them before giving what was probably a real lopsided grin.

"Brain zaps. Not. Not as bad," I informed him.

He let out a snort, though it wasn't full of much mirth. "we're gonna go to my place, alright? since you can't do shortcuts well."

"Alright." Those grey dots were everywhere. "Is. Is this room. Dusty?"

"no." His answer was terser than I expected. "don't pass out on me buddy. you remember how you got here?"

"Dream." I murmured. "Kid? n' ostriches."

"...uh, okay, i'll ask ya later. gonna carry you with magic, okay?" With an oof, I was surrounded by a heavy blue aura of something. I felt myself being lifted through the air next to a pretty exhasuted looking Sans. "gonna get you somewhere safer, then I'll all Paps."

"Don't. Don't hurt. Yourself," I mumbled.

"no offense, but it takes a lot more than this to take me down," Sans winked. "been all over the underground lookin' for you, though. kinda tired. and lazy."

When he lifted me up, I could finally make out a bit of what was around me. It was beautiful, honestly. It was a large cavern with glowing blue pools of water, surrounded by clusters of those whispering flowers. "Where?" I asked.

"waterfall. you're a long way from the lab, buddy. no wonder you're spent." We took a hallway that was more like a canal to the north. "al woke up to the alarm blarin' and your cot empty. nothin' on the monitors."

"Jesus."

"yeah." There was a short, pregnant pause. "listen, uh -"

"Holy. Holy. Holy shit." I was a bit of an asshole and cut him off, but to be fair, we'd stepped (and floated) into the prettiest goddamn cave I've ever been in. There were glowing crystals everywere the eye could see, and the ceiling seemed to stretch on forever. It seemed to glitter in waves, like a living thing that was greeting the Underground hello.

"heh, this is the wishing room," Sans said, "closest thing to stars we got down here."

I was set down next to a rusty but serviceable looking telescope and Sans slumped against the wall, taking out his phone. "hey, Pap, i found -"

"DID YOU FIND THE HUMAN?!?!" Sans had to hold the phone out at arms length and raised an eyebrow my way. I coughed and offered up a weak "hey" to try and calm him down.

"we're - Pap, listen - we're in the wishing room. can you come get us? we're both pretty wiped." Sans kept chatting with his brother a bit, while I zoned out and stared at the crystals. It was breathtaking, but heartbreaking at the same time. They'd never seen the stars. These were gorgeous, but they weren't the glittering night sky.

"Y'know. Funny," I tried to get out, once he was done. "Light pollution. In cities. Blocks out most stars."

"yeah?" Sans tucked away his phone.

"Y-yeah. You can. Sometimes. See. Two or three. B-but unless you go out to the c-country, some p-people don't see t-t-them at all."

"that's kinda depressing, bud, no offense."

"None. Taken. And uh. Sans?"

"yeah bud?"

"Thanks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might've gotten my geography a little borked up, but I hope I did alright.


	16. Chapter 16

The sky was dark when we arrived back at their place. There wasn't a sun down here, obviously, but the ambient light seemed to run on some sort of cycle. It was jarring and familiar at the same time.

Snowdin was a cute town to take in when I wasn't being rushed along. I only caught a bit of it before we entered their house, but it was brightly lit and seemed filled with people chatting to one another.

"I wouldn't m-mind s-staying here," I mumbled, mostly to myself.

"yeah?" Sans said tiredly, from his spot in Papyrus' other arm. "s'nobody stoppin' you."

"Mm." Papyrus got us in and (gently) tossed us both on the couch. He rushed off to go make tea or something and left us just sort of tiredly slumped together on the couch. I had no intention whatsoever of moving, and neither did Sans, so we just lumped in tandem for a while.

I felt pretty awful, but not as awful as I could have been. I was a little suprised that I wasn't reeling anymore, honestly. Vision was still a bit hazy, but nothing I couldn't deal with. I wasn't gonna be moving much the next few days, though.

"it's gonna take a bit for al to whip up the first batch of soul food," Sans supplied after a while with a tired wink. It looked more like he'd fallen asleep for moment. "can't imagine that cot is super comfy. wanna just stay here for a few days?"

"S. S. S." Ok, cool, words were gone. I just nodded. I liked Alphys, but I also wasn't in any hurry to be near the amalgamate again, harmless or not.

"cool. we'll get ya acquainted with the locals. they wouldn't know a human when they saw one anyway." A few minutes passed. "we could try and visit Toriel."

"S. She. Hasn't. Been. Answering." That came out a lot more bitter than I meant it, honestly. I hadn't been gone all that long. But whenever I tried to give her a ring during a quiet moment or after a meal, it never picked up. Not even a voicemail. Nothing.

"maybe she gets cruddy reception?" Sans seemed to consider it a moment, then shrugged. "we'll try the door anyway, just in case."

"HUMAN! DRINK THIS TEA IMMEDIATELY!" A big, steaming mug of some amber liquid was thrust into my face with all the grace of a bull in a china shop. I took it gratefully as Papyrus refused to let Sans stir ketchup into his. Where he'd even pulled that bottle from was anyone's guess.

\---

  
By the next morning, I was seriously confused. And a little worried.

I'd woken up with aches and pains, as per usual. I took a while to fumble around and find my glasses, as per usual. I fell off the couch twice, again, as per usual.

I'm not graceful. I fall off of damn near every surface I lie or sit on.

It struck me when I tried Toriel for the umpteenth time and got no response. I felt like I did normally. Not like I _should_ after last night's debacle.

I mean, I hurt. I always hurt. But after something like that I should've been damn near immobile. At the very least, I should be way more fatigued than usual and fuzzy-headed. Without my medicine, I logically should be real fucked up.

But I wasn't.

Maybe it was the magic? I mean, the food wasn't really helping the pain or anything, but I'd been eating nothing but magical food for a few days now. It hadn't worked on my pain or anything before, but maybe it was just building up. Like a residual effect.

Ew. Magical residue. I shook my hands to get the feeling out, a grimace on my face.

"what're you resi-doing up so early?" I heard from the staircase. Sans was leaning against the bannister, looking amused. He looked dishevled as all hell too, and was holding a mug of what looked like coffee. There wasn't any steam rising from the mug, though.

"Ah, hell, am I speaking out l-loud again?" I groaned, squinting up at him. "W-woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. You?"

"went and got the walker from Alphys', kinda lost track of time workin' on it." He shrugged, but his shoulders stayed a little slumped.

"Oh. Uh. Thank you." Anxiety kept trying to slam into me like a truck to panic over someone willing to do that much to help me, but instead I kept squinting. "You gonna go back to bed?"

"kinda hard when i never went in the first place." Sans shifted to his other leg, taking a long drag from his mug. It was really, really difficult to not buckle over laughing when a look of pure horror crossed his face when he realized it was both cold, and old.

And by difficult, I mean I cracked up. 


	17. Chapter 17

At some point, I ended up passing out while sprawled over the arm of the couch. I don't reccomend it - I felt like every bit of me was sore anyway, and that sure as hell didn't help things. I grumped a little but didn't crack open my eyes just yet. I needed a bit.  
"Welcome, lovely people of the Underground, to the morning news! Top headline today is overcrowding in New Home...but that's more like old news, isn't it, darlings?"

Papyrus woke up way, way too fucking early.

"Plans are being made for some of the cities bustling population to fan out to other parts of the Underground, though our dear king refuses to talk about any plans beyond that. Well, he did, but it was boring and dry. Nothing you beauties would need to worry about any time soon, anyway."

"ARE YOU AWAKE, HUMAN? I CAN MAKE THAT AWFUL BEAN WATER YOU SEEM TO LIKE IF YOU WANT."

Way too fucking early. "mfghsur." I offered, ever the wordsmith.

"WHEN SANS SAYS THAT HE MEANS YES, SO I WILL ASSUME YOU SPEAK THE SAME SLEEP LANGUAGE." There was some shuffling, so I assumed Papyrus had dashed off to the kitchen. I'd have to return the favor sometime - as grumpy as I was, he was a total sweetheart who meant well.

"The royal guard is hosting auditions! If you think you've...excuse me, darlings, but the captain used some particularly rough language here, so I'll sum it up. If you think you can hande Undyne, either contact her directly or through the head office at New Home. Good luck, darlings."  
It had to be some kind of monster morning show. I cracked one eye open and squinted at the TV to find a lit up calculator crooning at his watchers. "Keep your chin up, lovelies, and make sure to tune in to the next program - cooking with Mettaton! May you all have a day as beautiful as me."

A narcissistic talking calculator. Not the weirdest thing I'd seen so far, honestly.

"no offense, but you stink." I squinted a bit farther up the stairs to see a bedraggled Sans holding a pile of clothes and yawning. "might wanna hit the showers before the bean water."

"...thanks. Uh. W-where. Are they?" I groaned.

"see that door behind the stairs? right in there." I found myself with a pile of clothes being thrown at my face. "see you in a bit, bud."

"You're lacking. In the. Tact. Department." I mumbled, trying to stand up. It uh. It didn't happen.

"shit, sorry, forgot. hold on." I found myself surrounded by that soft blue glow and floated over to the door by the stairs. Without another word, I found myself set inside and the door shut. A moment later, the clothes landed next to me.

That was weird. Either I really stank, which was definitely possible after yesterday, or something was up. 

Not me, though. I eyed the shower wearily. I could probably drag myself over there and sit in the tub. There was no way I was asking for help getting any of it set up, though. At least they had shampoo and conditioner - probably Undyne's.

It took a few minutes, but I was able to haul myself into the tub and get the water going. It was nice, actually - the temp knob wasn't hard to figure out, and the shampoo smelled like white tea. I sat under the water and kind of dozed for a bit.

I had to finish up though, and with no small amount of effort I managed to haul myself up.

That's when everything went a brilliant bright white, then dark.

\---

"Welcome, lovely people of the Underground, to the morning news! Top headline today is overcrowding in New Home...but that's more like old news, isn't it, darlings?"

God, my head was killing me. Did I pass out in the shower or something? Wouldn't be the first time.

"OH, YOU'RE UP EARLY, SANS!"

"heh, yeah, couldn't sleep."

Wait, what?  
  
"Plans are being made for some of the cities bustling population to fan out to other parts of the Underground, though our dear king refuses to talk about any plans beyond that. Well, he did, but it was boring and dry. Nothing you beauties would need to worry about any time soon, anyway."

"...reruns?" I mumbled, slowly opening my eyes. The light was killing me though, and I quickly screwed them shut again.

"OH HUMAN, YOU'RE AWAKE! NO, THIS IS METTATONS MORNING NEWS SHOW." I groaned, partly due to the headache and partly due to Papyrus' loud as hell voice aggravating said headache. He must have noticed, because I felt a rather forceful bony pat on my head. "LET ME GO GET YOU SOME TEA, YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE YOU'RE FEELING WELL." There was some shuffling as Papyrus bounded off towards the kitchen.

...morning?

Again?


	18. Chapter 18

"so uh. how're you feelin'?" Sans asked. It took me a moment to respond, since I was stuck in a loop of thoughts wondering just what the fuck happened. "bud? y'there?"

"Wh...? Yeah, uh. Yeah." I replied absentmindedly. Had I dreamed it? I had some pretty surreal dreams sometimes...but that was usually do to my meds, which I hadn't taken in...god, how long hand I been down here?

"hey." I heard, and I came back to the present to find Sans staring at me. He was looking me dead in the eye and didn't look real happy. I shivered a bit and that made him even more tense so I just shrugged.

"S-sorry. Kinda out of it? I had a really surreal dream." That had to be it. Shit was weird down here but time travel like that was a whole 'nother level of weird. "I'm alright, I g-guess? I feel b-better than I thought I would."

"the tea'll help." He finally broke eye contact and that fairly false grin slid back onto his face. "it'll shower you with magic."

"...uh." I blinked. "Did you -"

"HUMAN!" I found myself blinking owlishly at a mug full of golden tea. "DRINK UP! SANS HAS A VERY FUN DAY PLANNED FOR YOU!"

"Does he?" I took the tea and sipped, staring pointedly at Sans. He shrugged.

"bonnie is havin' a sale on those cinnamon bunnies. figured if you were up to it, we could head there and then the libarby. paps'll give ya a bone to lean on."

"T-thanks for the tea, Paps." I said, smiling up at him. His cape thing managed to flutter in some sort of breeze and he all but threw himself onto the couch again. "Wait, libarby?"

This time the smile was a little more genuine. "gonna have to visit 'em to get a read on that situation," Sans winked.

Paps and I managed synchronized groans.

\---

The weird dream from earlier had faded away almost completely as I stared at myself in the mirror. I was decked out in what could only be described as an...eclectic ensemble.

"NOT THAT YOU DON'T LOOK AMAZING, HUMAN, BUT MAYBE YOU SHOULD PICK UP SOME CLOTHING TODAY?" Papyrus suggested. He was trying his damndest to hide a grin, and Sans was just full blown snickering.

I was wearing a crop top, first off, that was long enough to reach my waist. It proudly bore the words COOKING GENIUS in black sharpie on a tie-dye background. Underneath that was a long sleeve shirt with a heart pattern. The look was completed by a pair of basketball shorts that actually fit pretty decently, with long tie-dye socks and some blue slippers that barely fit.

"WE AH. WE DON'T HAVE MUCH THAT FITS YOU. AND SANS DOESN'T OWN MANY CLOTHES ANYWAY." Papyrus glared down at his brother. "YOU ALWAYS WEAR THE SAME JACKET AND SHORTS, SANS."

Sans just shrugged. "i know what i look good in, and i stick with it."

"Is. Is there." I sighed, irritated at myself, and tried again. "Will t-t-there be a place w-with clothes that f-fit me?"

"uh, well, sort of? we can hit up the store and then take 'em to Al to modify." Sans offered. "she's actually a pretty good seamstress."

"SHE MADE A MEW MEW KISSY CUTIE COSTUME ALL BY HERSELF!"

"She - she cosplays?" My eyes were wide when I turned back to the bros, a grin on my face. "I c - well, I used t-to cosplay."

"WHAT HAPPENED?"

All I did was gesture at the whole package of me, myself, and I. "This."

"OH."

It was pretty damn awkward there for a moment, with Paps looking a little embarrassed and shuffling his feet, Sans doing that staring thing again, and me trying desperately of a way to apologize for responding kind of like an asshole.

"explains why you two got along so swimmingly." Sans joked, finally breaking both the stare and the silence.

"Y-yeah." I patted Papyrus on the shoulder. "S-sorry. Just. Sorta sore subject?"

"THAT'S QUITE ALRIGHT." Just like that, the regular old energetic Paps was back. "NOW, YOU TWO GET GOING! THE DAY ISN'T GETTING ANY LONGER!"


	19. Chapter 19

First step was the general store, where we managed to snag an ungodly amount of piping hot cinnamon goodies. The bunny manning the store - Bonnie - was only mildly curious about where I'd come from. Once Sans had explained that I was a cousin visiting from the capital, she dismissed it entirely.

Bonnie was a little worried about my stutter and the way I leaned on the bone Papyrus had thrown me, but didn't bring it up beyond a couple comments, thank goodness.

Next was the clothing store, tucked neatly into a small row of houses by the river. I actually had pretty decent luck - I managed to snag a couple robes not unlike the one Toriel had lent me, plus a few shirts. A few pairs of pants were sent off to Al - I mean Alphys, and with the addition of some other necessities I was set. It helped that with the wide variety of monsters, there were quite a few that had similar needs to me, though I was perhaps a bit less fuzzy than the locals.

Next up was a place called Grillby's - this place was cozy as hell. It was like your neighborhood bar mixed in with a friend's living room, and it was toasty. Not the death heat of Hotland, but a warmth that helped ease the ache in my bones almost immediately.

It was a pretty rad day, honestly. Sans and I had a pun war at the bar, where the aforementioned Grillby crackled and the crowd actually cheered. Cheered! It was like something out of a cheesy movie - besides, you know, the monsters and the being of fire serving us what smelled like hot toddys.

We never made it to the library, but it didn't matter. A snowball fight just sorta happened once we got out of the bar, and I managed to nail a poor kid with no arms right in the noggin. He picked himself right back up while laughing and beaned me in the head with one thrown from his tail, so it worked out fine.

I was wiped when we finally staggered home. "Thank g-god we're home," I mumbled, letting myself fall onto the couch, face first. I didn't have any brain zaps for the first time in a long, long time, and I sighed in relief. Maybe I was finally getting over the withdrawal.

"home? heh." I felt a weight settle down on the couch next to me. "y'know, it could be, if ya want."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this one is short, but I wouldn't call this filler? It was originally part of a longer chapter I'm still in the midst of writing, but I've had a rough few days and fluff always warms the soul. Sharing is caring and all that.


	20. Chapter 20

Sans never remembered much through the resets.

He never had. What he could remember was blurry, unfocused - the best way he could describe it was like a blurry photo of a blurry photo. It was more a bundle of feelings and deja vu than anything.

There were piles upon piles of journals in his workshop, though, letting him know just how much he'd seen. Even then, he felt like sometimes some were missing, or had been moved, or something - but he could never really tell. And a reset usually happened before he could do much more than jot down a note about it.

Now, loads? That Sans could remember. It was always really disorienting when it happened the first time - like time and space had bent around him and tripped him up. He knew to check his workshop and it'd give him the rundown of what he was going through - from all his notes and experiences, he'd been able to piece together a pretty decent guide on what he was going to experience.

Sans had, for the first time in a long time (he thought), relaxed when it turned out his charge this time was an adult - a sick, frial adult, but an adult who could better tell the difference between right and wrong, and didn't come out of the ruins covered in a fine coating of dust. From what he knew, this was a highly unusual timeline, but he was enjoying it. A change is nice, even when you can't really remember the monotony.

He'd almost blasted a hole in the side of the house when the adult had almost died - no, _had_ died in the shower. How do you die in the shower? That was the only explanation though - time lurched backward and threw him for a loop, just like how it was described in his notes. Their soul wasn't right for it, though. It was purple, not red. Only red souls held enough determination to force time to bend the way they wanted it to, right? That's what his older notes assured him.

Sans couldn't wrap his mind around it.

\---

"Alright, Paps, so first you gotta stir the flour and spices together." I peeked through his ribcage and watched as he sent powder flying everywhere. "Maybe with a little less force though."

"BUT YOU MUST DO EVERYTHING WITH PASSION!" Papyrus shouted, before slowing down just enough so that the stuff stayed in the bowl. Mostly. "I'LL STIR THIS WITH A QUIETER PASSION, THOUGH."

"Alright, punk, I've got the butter softened," Undyne called. I was almost afraid to look, honestly. Leaning a bit on one of Papyrus' bones, I turned to find a thick sheet of pulverized butter covering the stove, along with a beaming Undyne. The look in he eyes almost dared me to say something.

"It, um...can you just, uh, scoop it into a bowl?" I picked my words carefully.

We were attempting to make cookies for a certain lizard's birthday. It was going about as well as you'd expect it to go.

Out in the living room, Sans was wrapping a gift for her from the three of us. It'd been a couple weeks since I'd gotten here, and we'd settled into a nice little routine. It was like living with two brothers - one eternally peppy, and one eternally punny. So like normal brothers, really.

I loved it.

"Hey, earth to nerd, what next?" Undye was holding a bowl full of smushed butter right in front of my nose.

"Oh! Uh, get the sugar and mix it into the butter," I said. "Then come get me - I gotta go sit down."

I made my way to the beat up but comfy couch and sank into it. Sans was chatting to someone on his old as balls phone. Mettaton was on TV crowing about some sort of beauty cream. The air smelled like cookies and...well, and ketchup, but it was nice anyway.

I could get used to this. And honestly, I had already.

"good news, bud," Sans said, breaking me out of my reverie. I turned to find him grinning with thumbs up while sticking what had to be the fifth bow on the gift. "your first batch of medicinal junk food is done."


	21. Authors Note

Hey y'all!  
  
First I wanna say, thank you for all the subscriptions, kudos, and bookmarks. When I started writing this as a way to sorta cope, I didn't expect so many people to like it!  
  
Right now, I'm going through a bit of a health scare, so that's why there's been such a gap between updates (and why Aftermath hasn't gotten updated in a good while.) I'm still in the midst of writing the next chapter, but it's already long and will probably end up even longer. I'm determined to stay with this story, no worries.   
  
Thanks for being patient, guys. I'll try to get back to updating regularly soon, but right now IRL stuff kinda takes precedence. 


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter mentions death and illness. It's also not like, the fluffiest thing I've ever written.

Waterfall looks pretty amazing when you stop to take it all in.

I was sitting on the dock by Undyne's house, dipping my toes into the glowing water and laying on my back. The ceiling glittered far, far above me with soothing blue light. Off in the distance I heard the echo flowers chatter among themselves. It wasn't humid, funnily enough. You know how the air just feels cool and full of the promise of rain right before it arrives? It was like that. The closer you got to Hotland, the more humid and swampy it got, but in my little area it was just about perfect.

I had a little satchel with me, filled with a small picnic, my brick of a phone, and a journal decorated with quite a few MTT Brand Holo Stickers. It'd become something of a diary, lately. Papyrus had been kind enough to gift it to me after we'd gotten home from Alphys' birthday bash.

I took the pen from behind my ear, rolled over onto my stomach, and read over what the past few weeks said.

_"Alphys' birthday was today. It was pretty chill, she loved her gifts and was blushing like a tomato when Undyne handed her the cookies. Special food didn't do anything yet, pretty bummed. Paps gave me this journal when we got home, saying that I shouldn't worry, but if I do, write it down and I won't worry anymore. He mentioned Sans did the same thing. They're sweethearts, they really are."_

_"I woke up today."_

_"I fell again, in front of the Libarby this time. I woke up back at this morning, somehow? I don't think it was a dream this time. Sans wouldn't talk to me today. Still no effect from the food."_

_"Feeling really run down and tired. Poor Paps isn't really getting why the tea isn't helping much. No effect yet - Alphys is starting to think that maybe the stuff needs to build up in my system. Makes sense, that's how it worked with my meds. Still wish it'd work sooner, though."_

_"I blacked out twice today. The first was when I was on my way to chat with Dogamy and Dogaressa, to introduce myself. I'd only gotten to the town sign and woke up back at the house. I tried again, this time just opting to ride to the lab and say hey to Alphys and presumably Undyne, and about halfway through the trip I woke up again at home._

_I didn't really get out of bed after that."_

_"Something is showing up on the scan. A growth."_

_"Didn't get out of bed today. Second batch of food came in. Tastes like grape."_

_"Sans made me get out of bed today. We went and staffed his hot dog (and...cat) station somehwhere in the bowels of Hotland. Nobody seemed to really mind me. It's been awhile since they've seen a human, huh?"_  
  
_"Sans tried to get me out of bed today, too. Said that even though the scans were getting progressively worse, that didn't mean I should give up. Rich words from the laziest bonehead I know. I just slept. I don't really have the energy for much else."_

_"I fought with Undyne today. I was...upset. The food isn't working. We don't know why. My HP keeps dropping bit by bit, fraction by fraction. The growth has gotten bigger. So I refused to let her see my soul again. What's the point, right? Undyne got real pissed that I got Alphys upset. I guess I was sorta mean. I'm kind of an asshole sometimes, huh."_

_"I left the bro's house today. I didn't let them know beyond a note saying I was gonna scope out the Underground and come back in a bit. I'd go talk to Asgore, honestly, but my soul is too fucked to be of any use. Last time I saw it, a few weeks back, it was getting these spiderweb cracks all over it, these fucked up thin red lines. I think...I think I might be dying?_

_Sad, isn't it, that I fell down here and found hope just for my health to tank even more. Oh well. It's not anyones fault, the people down here are lovely. I'm just a lost cause, I guess. Fucked from before I even fell down here._

_"I uh. I can feel a lump. I'm pretty...pretty nervous. Gonna keep exploring until I can't anymore, though. Gotta keep going."_

_"I accidentally fought a moldsmal today. My soul's gotten so spiderwebbed with red that it's basically just pink at this point. I wiggled my hips, it wiggled its hips, it was a great conversation."_

_"Sans has been calling. So has Papyrus. Toriel hasn't answered in...well. She never answered, really. I hope she's okay. Never got the chance to stop by her door. Maybe I'll do that last."_

_"I found a long branch of something and started to use that as a cane. Made it to New Home today, but tried to keep my profile pretty low. It's crowded as hell, but the people are kind. You can tell that the space issue is starting to get to them, though. I almost headed up to the King, but decided against it. Maybe later."_

_"Turned the phone off. Getting difficult to avoid them, though. Just...they've done a lot. I don't need them to get more attached so that they feel worse when I'm dead in a ditch somewhere."_

_"Not super proud of this, but I ate an echo flower today. Ergo, my stomach noises were ehcoed far and wide. Pretty sure Undyne saw me, so I booked it to this grassy area all the locals went bug catching in. Didn't see any, though, and thankfully Undyne couldn't seem to find me."_

_"I got into an encounter with a Pyrope today while exploring. My soul popped out and it was almost blinding. It was a bright, brilliant magenta, brigher then before, and veined with small, almost nonexistant purple light. It was pretty, to be honest. Pyrope seemed a little taken aback, but once we got boiling hot he seemed okay with it."_

_"I'm sleeping a lot lately. Think I need to head to the door. Gotta find the door, you know? Gotta...gotta see if Toriel is okay. Least I could do."_

There was nothing really interesting to add for today - I was just making my way back to the Ruins, nothing special. I was honesetly pretty lucky that Undyne wasn't nearby, she was probably over in Hotland with Alphys watching anime again.

I did miss them. I needed to take a nap before moving again, though. I was tired. "Bone tired," I whispered.

Heh.

BAD END

RELOAD?

***YES** /NO

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *throws glitter in the air* Welcome back everyone! It's been a while, huh? I've been dealing with some ongoing health stuff (thats still going, unfortunately) but I've finally gotten the drive to write back. Hopefully I'll be back to updating this more often, and I'm considering doing an overhaul on Aftermath to fix some of the stuff I didn't like. We'll see! At the very least, this'll keep updating. 
> 
> This one is sad, huh? Don't worry though, it's not the end. When is anything ever the end when you can just reset? For real though, I'm pulling our dear MCs experiences from my own. I uh...I well, I might have cancer. That's kinda it. So I wrote out this "bad end" to kinda help vent about that. It was nice - it helped me kinda get over the funk I've been in about it.


	23. Chapter 23

Woof, I was tired. I blearily opened my eyes to the brother's living room, trying to blink away the last remnants of sleep. It didn't really work, but it enabled me to fumble around for my glasses. I stayed cocooned in my blankets though - shit was cold in Snowdin.   
  
Today was Alphys' birthday. Undyne was sprawled on the floor, still coated in flour from cookie making shenanigans. She'd stayed so late that she'd almost fallen asleep standing up, so we made her stay over. Above her on the table was a package that was pretty much just a orb of bows - a bowrb? Inside was a universal remote and a pretty baller (and only slightly waterlogged) poster of Dangan High School Host Club. The remote she could use for parts, the poster she could hang above her figurines.   
  
I felt a little off, but I always did nowadays. The side effects from not having my meds were diminishing, but that meant that my body was having a heyday with my illnesses. I slept like, a lot. Nobody seemed to mind, but I still felt bad.   
  
"hey, you feelin' alright?" I looked up to find Sans giving me a weirdly intense look from the stairway, but he also looked exhausted. I'd looked pretty intense when I'd gone without sleep, too.   
  
"I mean, as much as I c-can," I offered a smile. "You look like shit."   
  
"heh, thanks." He made his way over and flopped down on the couch. He was carrying some sort of glitzed out notebook, with Mettatons face plastered all over it. When he caught me looking, he shrugged. "needed paper, and this is all we had."   
  
Yawning, I snuggled deeper into the blankets. "I'm gonna...go back to sleep for a bit. It's still pretty early, yeah?"   
  
Something flickered across Sans face, but it was gone in a flash. "actually, I could use some of that 'bean water' you like to chug, wanna stay up and shoot the shit  ?"   
  
"You chug it too," I laughed. "But yeah, sure."  


* * *

  
The lab rang out with the high pitched tunes of some pop star warbling in Japanese. Alphys nearly fell off the bed before finding the phone buried in her sheets.   
  
"H-hello?"   
  
"al. This is between us and us only."   
  
"U-uh, okay, S-sans, you sound worried."   
  
"don't ask me how I know this. don't have much time before we head over. we need to get her to take the biggest dose of healing you can give her."   
  
"W-we - I mean s-sans, that hasn't w-worked yet, why would it w-work now?"   
  
"let's just say we gotta nip something in the bud. i'll explain later, but this is urgent."   
  
"...are w-we gonna tell her?"   
  
"no. not a word."   


* * *

  
"Are you cryin'?"   
  
I was in front of a little pool by Undyne's house. We were waiting for her to grab something from home and I'd wondered off to explore a little. Reaching up, I felt a slight trail of tears down my face. Huh.   
  
"U-uh, hey Undyne. I g-guess?" Sniffing, I shrugged. "P-probably just allergic to something here."   
  
"Well, stop being sad, punk!" When I turned to face her she was grinning and giving me what looked like a pose from some anime. Thumbs up, legs were in weird position, and Papyrus was waving his cape/scarf behind her. "We've got a birthday party to go to!"   
  
"Pff...you guys." I wiped my face. I didn't even know why I was crying, really, and the strange melancholy feeling was already fading. "Alright, let's g-go."   
  
"That's the ticket. Papyrus, shoulders!"   
  
"Wh - oof!" I found myself launched right up onto Pap's shoulders like a rag doll. "U-uh, okay, thanks Paps."   
  
"NOT A PROBLEM MY FRIEND! COME, LET US MAKE HASTE!"   
  
Someday, I’d get a view of the Underground by walking, not by being hauled around by a lanky skeleton with a need for speed. Someday.   
  
\---   
  
We arrived at the Lab in what could graciously be described as a mess. Papyrus had swung me under his arm at one point to carry me faster, but didn’t stop in time, so we both went flying through the automatic doors into the first floor. Undyne, being Undyne, came racing after, tripping on the mess that was Papyrus and I, and went skidding a little further down. Sans just ambled in after us.   
  
“You could s-stop laughing and maybe help us up,” I grumbled. “I have a face full of skeleton armpit.”   
  
“I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT I TAKE THE UTMOST PRIDE IN HYGIENE, SO YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.” Papyrus huffed from behind me.   
  
Undyne just groaned.   
  
“W-what is going- oh!” Alphys peeked over her balcony at us for a moment before skittering down the stairs in a frenzy. “Are y-you guys alright? D-do you n-need healing? I’ve...I’ve got monster candy around here somewhere, I - “   


“I’ve g-got a bruised ego.”  
  
“MY PRIDE IS WOUNDED.”   
  
Undyne just groaned. Sans did nothing but snicker.   
  
“W-well. You’re fine, then.” Alphys grinned, though she seemed...tired? Could lizard monsters get bags under their eyes?  “C’mon, w-we’ve got a party to g-get started."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY 
> 
> It's been a while, huh? It took me a bit to get myself together enough to write again, but here I am! I want to let y'all know that while I may not have replied to the comments on the last chapter, they meant the world to me, they really did. 
> 
> I'm cancer-free! It ended up being something else entirely, and while I'm still, you know, chronically ill, I'm incredibly relieved that pretty stressful period of "what if?" in my life is over.
> 
> Anyway! It feels good to write again. I hope this chapter is alright, or at least fun to read.


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